Marco Perego, Husband of Zoe Saldaña, Achieves Historic Feat at Cannes Film Festival

Tommy McArdleThu, May 14, 2026 at 6:41 PM UTC

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Zoe Saldaña and Marco Perego in Venice, Italy on May 6, 2026
Credit: Luc Castel/Getty -

Marco Perego is the first producer to have three films premiere in Cannes' main competition in one year

His films include Minotaur, Fjord, and Paper Tiger, plus Butterfly Jam in the Directors' Fortnight section

Perego, a former soccer player and painter, debuted as a writer-director with 2023's The Absence of Eden starring Zoe Saldaña

Fans may know Marco Perego as Zoe Saldaña's husband, but the Italian artist is making an impression as he embarks on a new career path as a film producer.

Perego, who has been married to Saldaña, 47, since 2013, is going down in Cannes Film Festival history as the first producer to ever have three movies premiere in the festival's main competition, per The Hollywood Reporter. As THR noted in a report on Thursday, May 14, those three movies are among the most anticipated films opening at this year's festival, including Minotaur, from Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev, Sebastian Stan's new movie Fjord and Paper Tiger, which stars Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller and Adam Driver.

The outlet also noted that Perego is a producer on Barry Keoghan, Riley Keough and Harry Melling's new movie Butterfly Jam, which premiered separately in the Directors' Fortnight section at Cannes this year.

Perego is a former soccer player and a painter. He made his debut as a writer-director with the 2023 movie The Absence of Eden, which starred Saldaña, 47.

The couple share three sons: twins Cy and Bowie, 11, and Zen, 9.

Zoe Saldaña and Marco Perego on May 6, 2026
Credit: Stefano Mazzola/Getty

"Growing up in a small place in Italy, my father and my mother showed me films all the time. I was very curious — it can be a great voice for all these different places around the world, where you can talk about social commentary, or just tell a story about the human condition," Perego told THR, when asked how he achieved the Cannes producing record. "The first question I asked myself was: Where is the space to support that? We set up a company called Leaf Entertainment. I asked my partner Michael [Cerenzie], 'What do you think about starting to really produce auteurs?' I was very lucky to be part of this very strong community of all these great filmmakers."

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"There is a necessity culturally to really help and protect the voice of these great auteurs, now more than ever," he added.

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Zoe Saldaña and Marco Perego on April 23, 2026
Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty

Saldaña and Perego began dating in 2013 and married that same year. Perego even took Saldaña's last name when they married, and the couple consider themselves partners in love, life and art.

Saldaña notably shouted out Perego when she won a BAFTA Award in February 2025 for her performance in the movie Emilia Pérez. "My husband, you are God's favorite and I hate it — but you are so beautiful!" she said at the time.

The Oscar-winning actress most recently appeared on the big screen when she reprised her role in the Avatar franchise as Neytiri in last year's Fire and Ash. Aside from Perego's work as a producer, he is working on a new movie as a director titled Petrichor that stars Isabella Rossellini and Valeria Golino, which Deadline reported in February.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”